All right you want to follow
along turn to Matthew chapter eleven. Matthew chapter eleven. Matthew chapter eleven. I hope well I know this will
be of great comfort some. Some people. I received a blessing from the
study of it. There are many people I know.
There's some in here this morning who do not yet know the Lord. and do not yet see their desperate
need of Jesus Christ, his gospel. Though they are somewhat interested
in the Bible and in religion, yet I don't believe they have
fully been convinced of who Christ is and their desperate need of
him, his blood, and his righteousness. If I could convince these people, I would. And that may be the reason I and other preachers and so
forth become, get so worked up at times, because this is a frustrating
thing. You see people, their desperate
need, you know what they need, and you so desperately want to
convince them. But I can't. If I could fully persuade someone
of the truth of the gospel, I would, but I can't. I have an older brother, 41 years
old, I believe, 41 years old. He's a very intelligent man,
extremely intelligent. He's a college history professor. He's a very sweet man. Very sweet,
very gentle, very kind, very likable, and very talented. And he shows at least a nominal or passing interest, intellectual
interest, in this book. Anybody that is well-read would
be fooled to ignore literary value of this book anyway. And
he has at least an intellectual interest in this book and its
contents, but he doesn't know Jesus Christ, nor does he see his need of this
gospel. There are many people, young
people included, especially our young people who hear message
after message, message after message from this book, some powerful
ones. Our young people have heard some powerful messages from this
pulpit, undeniable truths Powerful, convincing messages of the power
and the glory of God, the wisdom and the mystery of these things,
yet they go away unchanged, unmoved, totally uncarried and unfeeling. Adults, especially children.
Now, I know there's some people that are at least convinced that
this is true. They're convinced in their heads
that this is true, what we're preaching here, yet they remain
uncommitted. And maybe the reason is they're
waiting for some kind of religious experience or feeling some miraculous
revelation or somebody or something to tell them, well, you're saved
now. Now you say now be baptized and
so forth. I know there's someone I know
there's someone in here right now. That feels that is doing
that I know I've seen it too many times waiting for some kind
of religious experience or feeling some miraculous revelation to
tell them they're saying instead of just depending upon what this
book said. And there's some that are skeptical
and doubting. Because they can't fully understand
the doctrines I don't I can't logically reconcile this and
that and the other. I know there's some people, perhaps
in here, I know some people that do come on occasion. Can I reconcile
God's sovereignty, God's sovereignty, and why this? I'm just really,
literally confused about it, many doubtful questions. And then I know there are believers. Sitting right here this morning,
there are believers that are convinced of who Christ is, convinced
of the truth of the gospel. They see their desperate need
of this gospel, yet they are afraid to commit because they
believe, and the next day they don't. One day they feel so enthused
about it, and the next day they're cold and indifferent, and they're
waiting to feel the same all the time, or something like that. I don't know if any of that fits
anybody in here. I think it does. The scripture
says there's nothing new under the sun. There's no temptation
that has been taken as taken you as such is common to all
men. Every person in here, including
this preacher to the deacons to our lady older ladies every
person in here has felt the same thing has asked the same question
as has been looking for the same feelings over and over again
have some of you shaking your head waiting I waited for a long
time for years I believe this gospel. I saw my need of Christ
I believed the truth of the Scriptures and saw my need of Christ. I
believed who God was. I knew what I was. And the gospel
blessed me. It comforted me. It helped me.
And I knew, but I was just afraid because one day I'd feel real
excited and the next day I wouldn't. And I was waiting on somebody
or something to tell me, now's the time. But it never came. But that word
stayed the same over and over again. Until finally I thought,
it's not my feelings. Until he showed me from the Word.
So some man faithfully stood up and said, it's not the way
you feel. Feelings are going to come, feelings are going to
go. Feelings are deceiving. Don't put your faith, your hope,
your trust in feelings. It's not worth believing. The
Word of God stands for sure. And there's nothing that you
are thinking, no question you're asking, no doubt you're struggling
with, that has not been experienced by every person in this room.
Right? Every person. Even the greatest
of men, down through the years, the greatest of men, believers,
saints, prophets, apostles. You think, oh, if I could just
have the faith of Paul the Apostle, of Peter, if I could just believe
like Peter. Peter denied the Lord. and wept like a baby. Oh, if I could just get to the
point where Paul is. Paul said, I'm not there yet.
He says, I hope I make it. He said in one place, didn't
he Rick, we'll be saved even like the Gentiles are. I hope
to be saved like these other people are. Oh, but what about John the Baptist?
Now, there was a man filled with the Spirit from his mother's
womb. Thought he'd just be like John the Baptist. Oh, no. John was full of doubt and fear.
We're going to see that here in our text. Now, I said this
morning, earlier, that the Lord does not prove himself to anybody.
Now, stay with me now. The Lord does not prove himself
to anybody. He will not do it. Prove it. Show me. Give me a sign. I'm
going to do it. It's written. That's all the
sign you're going to get, right? But it's the firm foundation.
If he'd just give me this, give me that, he's already given you
all the counsel of God right here. He has spoken in these
last days right here. That's all you got. And I'm going
to expound upon it this morning. And God will not prove himself
to anybody. He will not answer the foolish
questions of mockers and scoffers. What? I believe that, but no,
he won't answer the buts. He won't deal with buts, Willie
Henry. He won't deal with goats. His message is for his sheep.
He said, my sheep hear my voice. He said to a bunch of Pharisee
butters, a bunch of Pharisee goats one day, he said, you believe
not because you're not my sheep. I'm not come to you anyway. My
sheep are going to hear my voice. They're going to hear me. He
that is of God, heareth God's words. He'll not deal with the
foolish questions of mockers and scoffers, but he will reveal
himself to anybody who has some genuine, true questions. All
right? He has some genuine questions.
He needs some answers, true seekers. Anybody who really wants some
answers, God will give some answers. Yeah, he will. Those who are
truly seeking to know God and find out answers about who God
is and how we may know him, to those people, to askers, seekers,
knockers, God says it will be given to them from above. A man
can't receive anything except to be given him from above. Like
I said, I can't give it to you. I can't speak peace to your heart.
I can't convince you of this. Any more than anybody when I
was sixteen years old could convince me. Can't do it. God can. And does. And does. Now any legitimate
questions. Legitimate questions. Things
that make us doubt and fear. God will assure us of it. And
we have them. Don't you have questions? Did
you have any questions about the hospital violet? Your head
shaved? About to go under the knife? Why? Did you have some
questions? Sure you did. Do you have any
answers right now? Do you have any peace about that? Any comfort that you went through
that? We all have some. Sure we have questions. We're
flesh. That which is flesh is flesh. It's hard for flesh to
rise above flesh, isn't it? We see flesh. We feel flesh.
That which is spirit is spirit, and it's as high above God's
ways, and God Almighty is so high above us as the heaven is
above the earth. How are we going to know? Right here. I'll give you a few answers just
a moment. We're flesh, and we all have
these questions, even the greatest of men, even John the Baptist. We think of that fellow without
a beyond reproach, we think of him Never having a doubting moment
in his life, not so. Look here in Matthew 11. Look
at Matthew 11. Look at verse 1. Let's drop on down first to verse
7. Talk a little bit about John
the Baptist before we tell the story here. Verse 7. Christ departed and Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John. Now what did you go out
in the wilderness to see? He told the people. They all went out to see John
the Baptist and hear him preach. He was a strong man. He was a
man's man. You try it, Henry. Try living
out in the wilderness and wearing a loincloth and eating locusts
and wild honey. Think you could do it? You could
dig a few ginseng and a little bit I don't know if we'd make
it, buddy. John could. He did. He lived
out there. He was tough, wasn't he? Was
he a man's man? He was a man's man, buddy. And
like my pastor said to one woman one time who was kind of liberal,
kind of feministic, he said, he looked her right in the eye
and said to her, Miz, that's what they like to go by, you
know, not Miss or Mrs. Miz. That's kind of a neutered
term. Miz, he said, this is a man's
gospel. This gospel's a man's gospel,
where a man's a man, a woman's a woman, God's God, there's authority,
somebody's in control, and there's delegated authority, and we all
got to submit to it. This is a real gospel, for real
people, real order, for real people. John was a real man. No doubting that he was a man.
Tough? We think we're tough. We think
we're macho, don't we, Rick? John was tough. He was a man. He was a man's man. Honest, hardworking,
down to earth. And this gospel is for real people
like that. real people with real problems,
needing real answers. This gospel is reality. We're
dealing this morning not with some this. I'm not talking in
a voice like this with a robe and so forth and appealing to
your religious, the religious side of you. I'm talking to you
down where the rubber meets the road, man to man, Charles Hudson,
eyeball to eyeball, toe to toe. All right, down where the rubber
meets the road. You're a real man, buddy, with
real problems. This is reality here. This is
a real gospel. We've got a real God to face.
We've got a real problem with sin. We need a real Savior. Some real answers. Not just religious
drugs. I'm not going to drug you this
morning with some sentimental message of how God loves you
and Christ died for you and all your problems are going to go
away. They will not go away. Well, John the Baptist was a great
man, all right. He was a spiritual man. Christ
said, verse eleven, among them that are born of women is not
a greater, is not a greater than John the Baptist. Now, is there
any doubt what a man John the Baptist was? And the Scripture
says he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God from his mother's
womb. That's what it said, doesn't it, John? One time the Lord came walking
down, and he said he was preaching, and boy, he could preach fiery.
He could look right in the face of these religious leaders and
all of this. Snakes, vipers, bring forth fruit meat for repentance. You're going to hell, you bunch
of hypocrites. Look eyeball to eyeball with people that could
throw him in jail and dead finally. Cut his head off. Like Ralph
Barnard said, this is preaching that will get your head cut off.
You bunch of vipers, you're lying on God. That's what Barnard did
one time when they asked him to pray for a bunch of preachers.
He bowed his head and said, Lord, I'm not going to pray for these
guys. He said, they're butchering your gospel, they're lying on
you, they're blaspheming you. He said, I'll pray for myself.
Lord, bless me. He did that. There's a John the Baptist in
our day. Well, that was John the Baptist back then, too. Strong
man. When Christ came down the road
one day, he said, there he is, the Lamb of God. You are following
the Lamb of God, no doubt about it. That's your only hope, your
only salvation. Not a name given among men under
heaven, whereby you must be saved. Right there he is, the Son of
the living God. You all follow him. Quit following
me. I'm nobody. I'm a nothing. I'm a void. There
he is. There's your salvation. I'm not
worthy to tie his shoes. Well, old John's in prison now. And Henry, this ain't the correctional
institute with TVs like the country club. I mean, they don't have
rec time, you know, where they go out and they shoot pool. Lazy
boy recliners in the lounge area. Prison. Bread and water. A damp,
dark dungeon waiting to die. Roaches. Rats. His back skin
alive from beating. Starving. Hungry. Real prison. And he was in real
trouble, wasn't he? He had real anxiety. He's a man. Scripture never says
he was anything but a man. He had real sorrow. He was alone
with his thoughts. He was down in that dungeon,
Betty, alone with his thoughts and his troubles. When you get
alone with your thoughts and your troubles, you can really
get out of shape, can't you? You can cry till you can't cry
anymore. You ever been there? Till you
weep? David said, I've watered my pillow
with my tears. I can't cry anymore. There's
no more moisture in me. You ever been there? no more moisture in me, alone
with his thoughts, with his troubles and doubts began to creep in."
It'll happen. He'd been there a burden. Doubts
begin to creep in, and he began to think. He'd been there a while,
and he began to think thoughts like this. If God is sovereign, why? Have you ever asked those questions
now? Come on now. Let's be honest. Let's put aside the religious
facade a little bit, all our supposed faith, and let's start,
let's answer truthfully before God. We get there if God is sovereign,
if there is a God. Why? Why do things like this
happen? I was out there preaching the
gospel. I was doing a good thing. Why? Look at God's people. God's
people are suffering. David asked that, didn't he?
David said it. Lord, why? He asked God that. Why, Lord? Your people are suffering, sick,
dying, miserable, in poverty in the world out there. Religious
hypocrites and God-haters alike, they're fat and sassy and having
a ... Why? Why are your people suffering? He could have thought this. This
could have run through his mind, Debra. Maybe I'm not a child of God. Do you reckon? Do you reckon
that could have possibly, that thought crossed his mind? Maybe
I'm not a child of God. If I am, why am I in prison?
Why, why, why, why? Maybe I'm deceived. Maybe I'm
the one that's deceived. I've been calling everybody else
deceived. Maybe I'm the one. You ever thought that, Jerry?
We're hesitant to admit it, aren't we? Everybody in here has thought
the same thing, including me. So John's full of doubt, questions,
and he gets two old boys. He can't find any. He doesn't
have any Bible. He doesn't have anybody, and
he calls a couple of friends that came in to help him or to
give him a little food or whatever these friends did. He said, look
at it, verse 2, when John heard in prison the works of Christ,
he sent to his disciples, verse 3, and he said unto them, you
go ask him, go ask this Jesus for me. Are thou he that should come,
or do we look for another?" Boy, I wish people would ask
that, don't you? I wish people were so down and
out that they'd ask that question. Is he, is Christ the one I need? Is there a God? Is there? What's
he like, Ben? How can I know him? How can I
know that God is God? I wish people start asking these
preachers that. Don't you, Stan? How do I know
the God you're talking about is God? Don't you wish I'd ask
that? How do I know what you're telling
me is the truth? I wish I'd ask that. What you're preaching to me,
is that true? Is it God you're telling me about? Is that really
the God of the Bible? What's salvation all about? Well,
what about these doctrines? Selection, predestination, atonement,
righteousness? What about these things? Can
you give me some answers to these? What about it? Who is God? Who am I? Where am I going? Who is this
Jesus Christ? What's this all about? Should
I go somewhere else? Ask and you'll receive, as Scripture
says. Ask. We have not, because we
ask not. Take your doubts. Do we have
any doubts right now? Anybody have any doubts and fears?
If you don't, you're a whole lot better person than I am.
Take your doubts to the Lord and ask him this, art thou he?
Or am I looking for another? The Jews of old. They were looking
for somebody. Today, the Jews today are looking
for a messiah. Some of them are very zealous,
aren't they? That's what Paul said in Romans 10. I recognize
that heaven is ill for God. They're very zealous. They're
looking for a messiah. You watch them, the Muslims, watch them
wail before their mosque and the wailing walls and the Buddhists. Everybody's looking for somebody.
Somebody to help them. Somebody, a Messiah, a Savior,
a teacher, a guide, a God, a prophet, a helper, a healer, a friend,
somebody help us. Aren't they? Everybody wants
somebody to help us. What about God? Where's God?
Would God come down and help us? He did. He did. He was prophesied of
old, foretold of old, two thousand years before he came. God, it said that God would come
in the flesh, it said where he would come, to whom he would
come, when he would come, where he would be born, to what family,
approximate time, what he would say, what he would look like,
what he would do, what he would be, how he would live, how he
would die, how he would rise from the grave, how he would
ascend back to heaven, how he would come again, and what would
happen thereafter. Every step. Every move, and he came. He went. And he's coming again. God did
come. God. Did come. Well, how do we know that picture?
How do you know that? How do you know that that's he?
How do you know that this one here is and we're not looking
for another? That's a good question. I wish
people would ask that. Nothing wrong with that. John
did. How do we know? How am I going
to know? The same answer that Christ gave to John right here.
Look at it with me. Verse four. Jesus answered and
said unto them. These two fellows came up to
Christ and said, John sent us and he wants to know. Are you
the one? Are you the Messiah? Are you
the one we look for or do we look for another? Are you he
that should come or do we look for another? And Christ didn't
say, oh, you rotten unbelievers, go on back there. No, he said,
You go, and this is the patience and the kindness and the tenderness
and the compassion of our Savior. He said, you go and you show
John again, show him again the things which you do here and
say, tell him one more time. Oh, but he's heard it so many
times. He's heard that before. Tell him again. He needs to hear
it one more time. Go show John again." And Peter
said, at one place, we can't help but tell the things we've
seen and heard. There's nothing else to tell. And like I said
earlier, I'm not going to tell you of visions and miracles.
I could. I could tell you. I could really get some people
in here this morning by just saying I had a dream last night. God told me. I'm going to preach
on prophecy this morning. 1985, it's all going to be burned
alive. 1986, it's going to be burned
up like sticks. 1987, we're all going to heaven.
You know, just keep going on. And prophecy can gather the crowds
in. I'm not going to do that. I'm
not going to do that. But I'm going to tell you what
I see in this Word. I'm going to tell you right here what Christ
told John. All right? You go show John again. And this is written to you. Christ is saying to me, you go
show Ellen again. You go and show Ellen, you go
show Polly again and again and again. She's going to get down. Come Monday morning when she's
out there working on the job with a bunch of God-hating people,
she's going to need to hear it again. You go tell Deborah again. You go show John again. Yet John
Davis. John, who was baptized, Baptist
Davis, show him again. Tell him this, verse five, the
blind received their sight. The blind received their sight.
Yes, men and women who were literally born blind back then. Now, that
was a miracle. Blind Bartimaeus, buddy, he could
tell you a story, couldn't he? I mean, he was blind from birth,
wasn't he? He just didn't have cataracts.
He was blind, stone blind. He couldn't see, and the Lord
up and healed him. But there's something better
yet. Spiritually blind people receive their sight. You go tell
Joe again, the blind receive their sight. Joe's about half
blind right now. He needs to see all over again
what this gospel does, who God is, and how he accomplishes The
blind receive their sight. A man blind to God. Here's a
man born and grows up, and he's a hellion from the word go. He's
blind to God. He doesn't even realize there's
a God. Doesn't even care, does he? Blind to God. He can't see
God. Can't see as far off. He can't see in front of his
nose. He can't see past his tongue what he puts in his mouth or
what he puts to his hand, can he? What he gets to, he's like
an animal. He's blind to God. You go tell
Joe again, the blind see. If your eyes open, see God. God
is, isn't it? God is, full of blind ambition.
Here's a man traveling down the road as fast as he can, getting
him a college education, trying his best to get him a degree,
trying his best to get him a profession, when he doesn't know that there's
only one profession worth having, one vocation worth joining or
worth seeking, isn't it? Blind ambition, a man full of
blind hate, blind to self, blind to others, blind to the truth.
You go tell John again, the blind received their sight. This is
a miracle, people. You're looking at a man who was
blind. Were you? Were you, Perrott Kensler?
Were you? Eyes open to God's Word. There
was a time when you didn't give a flip about God's Word, did
you? You didn't read God's word, you
read some other, something else. Field and stream. You know what I'm saying? It could
be somebody in here this morning saying, I just don't see, preacher.
I don't see what you're talking about. I don't understand. That's
what I said. It's exactly that what you said,
John Cheesley. That's what I said. One time,
all I know, and I can tell you right now, about all I can tell
you right now is once I was blind and I said to the preacher, I
don't see. But once I was blind, but now I can tell you, now I
see. Well, how? I can't tell you how
to. That's the reason we don't have
any books down here that says how to. God just got to do it,
doesn't he? I'll tell you how to. It's not
like an instruction manual, is it? You follow the directions.
If you go from A to Z, you'll know how. That's not it. How
to be born again? What do you mean? We didn't instruct
Hannah how to be born. When we were getting ready to
have a baby, did we talk to the one? We did do that, didn't we,
men? You know, you try everything
when you're expecting a baby. You try everything. You talk
to your kid in the belly. Let nobody saw me doing it, but
I'm admitting it right now. Saying to her, you know, but
we didn't tell her 100. This is what you got to do when
you get ready to come out. Are you listening? Is how to
be born again? Isn't that foolish? That's about how foolish it is
to tell a man how to get into the family of God Almighty. This
is how now you can follow me. Repeat after me. What? Supernatural miraculous birth
by God Almighty. to change from flesh to spirit,
from darkness into light, from death to life? You're going to
tell me how? You go tell John, this is all
you've got to tell him, blind men see. And he'll remember. Joe had a
spark, a spark, spark, spark, in old John's head. Hey, I was
once blind, but I did see, didn't I? I did see. You go tell John
the lame walk. Lame walk. There are people in here right
now who are unable to walk. The scriptures talk about walking
in paths of righteousness. Walk the way you ought to walk.
Walk into the church house, if you will. Walk in, sit down,
clothed in your right mind, look at the scriptures with a clear
mind, not inebriated, thinking about it. calling on asking questions
looking searching seeking walk in walk out thinking about it.
It was a time when I couldn't walk but one way Henry. About you. I couldn't walk I
couldn't walk you know they'll say he never darkens a door of
a church house he can't he can't get in there at doors closed
so he can't walk. But if a chef couldn't come sit
at the king's table could he stay He was lame, wasn't he? And that's
you and me. Lame by birth, from a fall. We
can't walk to God. If you'll take the first step
to God, God, the preacher said, I can't. If you'd have told that
old boy, eighteen years old, sitting on that park bench in
Florida, laying there all night drunk, if you'll take the first
step to God, young man, he'll meet you halfway. He can't. He's
lame. He's dead. Besides that, he's
drunk. He can't. What's the hope? What's his only hope? God come
to him. And tell him, get up from there,
boy, and walk. Just like that man lame from
his mother's womb with the palsy. What was his hope? Wouldn't that
have been cruel, Jeanette? That man with the palsy that
brought him in there, lame from his mother's womb. And Christ
looked to him and said, now, if you'll take the first step,
I'll help you. Wouldn't that have been cruel?
That's what preachers are telling people today, aren't they? If you'll just take the first
step, let me know you're serious. Oh, my soul. What did Christ
say to that old boy, Joe? Get up. And he got up and he
walked. You go tell John again that that
old boy who was walking down the road to hell just as fast
as he could made an about face. 180 degree turn, and he's walking
just as fast as he can in that straight and narrow way. Is that
a miracle or what, Sammy? Is it? You take a man bent for
hell, got Satan in his heart. God and all that. Come pleasure,
come world, and turn him 180 degrees. Now, that's what I want. You go tell John that. You go
tell John again. That happens. And you go tell
him that lepers are cleansed. You go tell John lepers are cleansed. You know, we all have this thing
called leprosy. It affects everything we do.
It's called sin. It's called sin. This thing like leprosy is called
sin. It affects everything we do. We still feel it in us. Everything we think, everything
we say. Last night, oh, I woke up. You know, we don't even have
any control over our dreams. This is how wicked and perverted
and vile we are. I woke up this morning thinking,
my soul. Why do I think, dream things
like this? It's our nature. It's in us. It's a rotten, vile, corrupt
principle that's within us, and it spews out its noxious odors
all the time. We can't get rid of it. Paul
said that in Romans 7, that who's going to get rid of this body
of death hanging on my back? It's everywhere I go. Everything I think, everything
I touch, it defiles it. It's like leprosy. Who's going
to get rid of it? Only one. You go tell John, lepers
are cleansed. You go tell John that that old
boy who once loved sin with a passion now hates it. You go tell John,
you go tell Barbara, that those that once loved things, loved
the things of this world, now hate them. They now love the
things they once hated and hated the things they love. You go
tell her that. How's that? It's of God, isn't
it? It's of God. Am I the one you're
looking for? See, this thing's being solidified
in John's mind, isn't it? Is he the one? Lepers are cleansed. Lepers are cleansed. Your sins
are forgiven, washed in the blood, a smile on the face, even a tear
in the eye, but a smile on the face at the same time. Joy and
peace in the heart. You explain this, Betty, how
your heart can be breaking, yet you have peace in it and joy.
Explain that. Explain that. Did you hear what
Jesus Christ said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you're free. They're all taken away.
I cast them behind my back. Never be remembered anymore.
Washed in the blood. Under the blood, God doesn't
see my sin. But I don't feel like it. I don't
feel like a good Christian who said anything about feelings.
You go tell, you go tell Polly that the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses old lepers from all their sin. God doesn't
see it. But I don't look like it. I know
it. But one day you will. One day you will. You go tell
John again, tell him again, that the deaf here, he must not have
heard it the first time. His hearing must be going out.
A lot of us have this problem, don't we? Hearing goes out, literally
and spiritually. We lose our hearing. The things
we once heard, we quickly lose it, don't we? The deaf hear. Literally, that happens. But
better yet. Now, this is a miracle. It has
to be of God. Here's a man, you take a man
or a woman who sits under God's word time and time again, or
a young person, especially our young people. They sit under
the sound of God's word time and time again, unmoved, uncaring. I wish we could have a movie
screen up here, Stan, and show some pictures of people years
ago sitting there. Particularly one old, one boy,
one young teenage boy, 20-year-old boy, you know, sitting there.
Ron Trebant, you know, counting the ceiling. I'd like to have
that show, Ron. Counting the ceiling tiles while
the preacher was preaching. One, two, three, four. Counting
the ceiling tiles. Now look at old Ron on the front
row, counting his blessings, smile on his face, gleam in his
eye, joy in his heart, a thrill, praise on his tongue, even getting
up and preaching at times. Huh? And old boy, time and time
again, all of a sudden, he hears message after message after message. It's like water off a duck's
back. And all of a sudden, I heard something. Do you hear that?
And the boy sitting beside him, or the woman or the man, says,
I didn't hear you. I did. I did. He said, God's God. Did
you hear that? And he'll run and tell his friends,
won't he, Henry? Run and tell them fast as he can. God's God.
Do you know that? I didn't know that. Well, he
is. That's what the Bible says. Well,
my preacher, come hear him say this. God's God. Do you know
that? We're sinners. We're in the hands
of this angry guy. We're going to die and go to
hell if we don't have a perfect sacrifice. Christ is the only
way. Did you hear that? I didn't hear that. I did. And I'm going to believe him.
I'm going to go hear it again. Come on down with me and hear
it again. I didn't hear that. I don't need that. Like your
daddy. Her daddy. For years he did the
same. Before he heard the gospel, he
was going to the so-called Christian church down the road. You know,
it's a big, it's a big socialite place. He was the biggest giver
there. You know, he was, they really
needed him down there. Biggest giver there. And he was at that
socialite place where all the doctors and lawyers and anybody's,
somebody's, anybody went down there. And so he did too. And
you know, one day the Lord struck him with what he wasn't hearing.
And he went up to his preacher. Joe, he went up to his preacher
one time, and he said, I don't know what I'm not hearing, but
I'm not hearing something. He said, I'm not hearing something.
I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is I need
to hear, but I'm not hearing it. He said, I want to hear some
hail or something. Can you imagine? He wasn't even
telling me that. The man drove miles to hear Dr. Barnard say hail from the pulpit.
Because the man said he never heard it anywhere else. But her
daddy said, I don't know what I'm not hearing, but I'm not
hearing it in here. He said, I'm leaving. Somebody
told me about a place down the road, and I'm going to go there.
And the fella begged him to stay. A little mealy-mouthed preacher,
you know, begged him. Please. Huh? He cried. Please stay. We need your money.
I mean, we want you here. Right? He went down the road
to 13th Street. He sat there for quite a few
services and never heard it there either. But he knew he was hearing
what he wasn't hearing down there. But one day, my dad tells this
story over and over again. He said, one day, he said, Ed
Ballard met him at the door. He said, Dad, didn't hardly,
my pastor didn't hardly get back to the back door, you know, to
greet the people. He was there. Grabbed him by the hand. He said,
I hear it. I see. And dad said, well, come
back tonight. He said, I'll be back tonight.
I'll be back Wednesday night. I'll be back Sunday morning.
I hear. I hear. You go tell old Joe the
deaf hear. Tell him again. People are still
hearing this. They're still hearing this. And
you go tell him the dead are raised. My, my, what a story
that is. Dead and trespassed in sin, rise
to walk in newness of life. A fellow who couldn't do anything
but sin, now hates it, and now lives to be like Christ. That's
a miracle, isn't it? Stinking rotten corrupt fella
now. He's got sweet smelling savor.
He's got some cologne on him John It's not his own making. It's not Avon essence of toilet
water It's the righteousness of Christ's It's the sweet smelling
savor of a new creature in Christ Something about that old fella
smells good. He doesn't look very good, but
he smells he looks he sounds like Christ And you go tell him
the poor, have the gospel preached to him, the poor. John, you're pretty poor about
right now, aren't you? Feeling pretty poorly. That's an old
country saying, isn't it? You feeling pretty poorly? I
always feel pretty poorly. Well, you go tell him again.
You go show John again all these things. Go tell John the gospel
again. Tell him that Christ has come
to seek and save that which was lost. center come. Come again and again and again. And I'll keep telling you. Again
and again by God's grace. All right, stand with me.